Boris Johnson will drive through plans to axe 12 fire stations, 18 engines and 520 jobs after his own fire authority voted against the proposal.

The Mayor is to take the unprecedented step of using his legal power of direction to force his proposals to be consulted upon.

He criticised the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority for showing a “complete lack of leadership” by rejecting his plans to save £45 million from the fire service budget over two years.

The authority voted by 9-8 in favour of a Labour amendment deleting any references to station closures, appliance reductions and job losses in any future public consultation. The final decision will be in June.

Senior City Hall sources admitted the Mayor’s decision was likely to cause “a storm” of protest with hundreds of firefighters campaigning to save their jobs and the threat of strikes.

Aides said it was “nonsense” to suggest Mr Johnson was putting lives at risk as over 100 stations and 150 engines would still exist.

They attacked the Labour-led opposition members of the authority for failing to present a “meaningful” alternative, instead suggesting the purchase of four extra engines.

Mr Johnson said: “Lfepa has a responsibility to deliver a balanced budget based on sensible plans for fire safety provision in the capital. I am of course always willing to listen to submissions but it’s quite clear this decision offers nothing positive, indeed it demonstrates a complete lack of leadership.

“This must and will be about improving London’s fire service, equipping the brigade for the challenges of 21st century fire fighting... This consultation will continue as planned. I will be issuing a Mayoral directive to ensure it does.”

Mr Johnson’s decision was met with dismay by the Fire Brigade’s Union.

London spokesman Paul Embery said: “For the Mayor to over-rule his own fire authority, all of whom are democratically elected politicians, is unprecedented. We think it’s wrong as the decision made by the authority will be supported by the majority of Londoners.

“We’ll continue to campaign against it and rule nothing out - depending on the final decision we may consider industrial action.”

Labour’s London fire spokesman Navin Shah accused Mr Johnson of ignoring the fire authority against the wishes of Londoners.

“The Mayor needs to think again and look at reallocating resources from the wider Greater London Authority budget. This will keep our fire stations open and protect the safety and security of Londoners,” he said.

The Greens’ Darren Johnson called on the Mayor to rethink his spending plans as the authority had sent a “clear and decisive” message the closures were unacceptable.

Lib Dems suggested that if the Mayor pushed through the changes as planned he was responsible for the safety of Londoners.

Assembly member Stephen Knight said: “The consequences for the safety of Londoners will be squarely on his shoulders.”

Brigade chiefs are planning the biggest shake-up in its 146-year history and last year offered all 5,727 firefighters and 1,000 civilian staff the chance to take voluntary redundancy - with a £10,000 “golden goodbye” to entice civilians to leave.